Palate
Go to the shore
Salt, pepper, a fire somewhere nearby. These are the visits with smoke or a harbour in them. One is plenty.
Skye and Raasay
- Talisker is in Carbost, on Loch Harport, not in Portree. The roads are slow, and the tour needs a booking in summer.
- Torabhaig, on Sleat, is the peated still at the south end of Skye. A different road from Carbost.
- Isle of Raasay mature a peated spirit and an unpeated one, and they describe the malt as dark fruit and heather smoke. The ferry is the short crossing from Sconser.
Islay and the western harbours
- Ardnahoe, on Islay's north coast, is the peated visit this map has checked. The ferry leaves from Kennacraig.
- Ardnamurchan, at Glenbeg, works with peated and unpeated barley. The glass depends on what they pour. Weekdays.
- Oban sits in the middle of town, a few minutes from the station. It is the milder shore: a little salt, less fire than Skye.
- Tobermory is on the harbour, after the ferry from Oban. The distillery makes an unpeated malt and a peated one. Ask which dram the tour includes.
Johnnie Walker Princes Street is the afternoon if you want several styles under one roof. It is an experience. The whisky is made elsewhere.
This is a direction, not a promise about the cask they pour on the day. The island you sleep on is the one you visit.